Baffle for gas-heaters.



T. 6. PALMER. BAFFLE FOR GAS HEATERS. APPLICATION FILED APR. H, 1916.

1,196,978 Patentedfi ept. 5,1916.

TRUMAN Gr. PALMER, OF CHICAGOILLINOIS.

BAFFLE FOR GAS-HEATERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed. April 11, 1916. Serial No. 90,432.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, TRUMAN G. PALMER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBafi les for Gas-Heaters; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to gas heaters and has for its object to providean improved.

form of bafiie especially designed for use in a gas heater of the typedisclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,125,387, of January 19, 1915. i

Inits preferred form, the baffle comprises a helical coil of wire woundupon a central support disposed in co-axial relation with the coil ofwire, the central support being of such characteras to cause the helicalcoil of wire to take the form of a series of substantially conicalspirals. In this way, nearly all of the successive turns of the wire may"be made of different diameter, and thus all of theturns' in conjunction serve to constitute a heating element, all parts of which arethoroughly and efficiently heated as the flame'rises from the bottom tothe top of the bafiie. Ifdesired, both the central support and the coilof wire wound thereupon may serve as heating elements, as both of thesame come'into direct contact with the flame and hot gases from'theheater.

The preferred form of the baffle is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which':

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the baflie as it appears when removedfrom the heating shell in which it is intended to be positioned; Fig. 2is a side elevation showing the improved baffle positioned within theheating shell above mentioned; and Fig. 3

is a horizontal section through the baflie taken on the line 33 of Fig.1.

The central support for the coil of wire is shown at 1' and may beconstructed in various ways and take various shapes, but preferably itis constructed as shown in the drawing. It is formed of two flat stripsof appropriate material, preferably metal, each strip having relativelylarge V-shaped openings 2 rovided along e g p rt n and othersubstantially rectangular openings 3 provided in its central bodyportion. Each of the two strips so formed is'bent along its longitudinalaxis, 'as shown in Fig. 3, to form two wing-like portions 4 forming anangle between them of substantially 90. The two strips are then securedtogether at their central portions by rivets or other suitable fasteningdevices 5, thus forming a skeleton supporting member having fourradially-disposed vane-like portions 4. When the strips aresecuredtogether, they are so positioned that the central rectangularopenlngs 3 of one stripwill register with those of the other strip, andthe V-shaped openings 2 'in one strip will 'be in circular alinementwith the corresponding V-shaped openings of the other strip. Therectangular open ings 8 and the V shaped"openings 2 should be sodisposed and so related that when the strips are bent and securedtogether, a skeleton support will be formed having a plurality ofsuccessively'diverging and converging narrow strips, over the edgeportions of which, the coil of wire maybe wound. The helical coil'ofwire above referred to is indicated at'6 and is wound over the exterioredges of the skeleton support. In order to prevent the turns of wirefrom slipping, the

outer edges of the vane-like portions 4 of the support are provided witha plurality of notches 7 to receive the turns of wire and tohold them inplace. As best shown, in Fig. 1, one end 8 of the length of wire may besecured to one end of the support and the length of wire then wound overthe outer edges of the support, the turns being positioned in thenotches 7 in such a manner that the coil takes a helical form, in thatthe turns advance toward the other end of the baffle. The other end 9 ofthe length of wire may be so bent as to hold the same in place,

as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The V-shaped crease in diameter and then theadjacent" group of turns of wire will successively 1ncrease in diameter.This isclearly shown in Fig. 1". It will be further-noted that theconical spirals of each pair taper. or converge in opposite'direct-ions.When the baflie is-to be used in combination with a heater of the typeshown in the patent above referred to, it is positioned within aforaminous cylindrical heating shell shown in Fig. 2 at 10,substantially like that shown in the aforesaid patent. As theconstruction of the heating shell 10 forms no part of the presentinvention, it is sufficient for the present purposes to note only theupper and lower caps 11 and 12, respectively, for reinforcing andmaintaining the cylindrical shape of the heating shell. If desired, thecentral support 1 of the bafile may be provided with severalintegrallyformed tongues 13, which may be bent over and secured to thetop cap 11 in any suitable manner. The heating shell 10, together withthe baffle positioned therein, constitute a heating unit which may bereadily positioned in and removed from a heater of the type shown in myaforesaid prior patent and placed in co-axial relation with the burnerof the heater in much the same manner as an ordinary lamp chimney ispositioned. The flame and hot gases passing co-axially through theheating shell 10 come in direct contact with the battle. Both thecentral support and the coil of wire wound thereupon are heated andradiate their heat to the compartment in which the heater is positioned.The Vane-like portions of the a central support and also the successiveturns of wire serve to effectively divide the flame and hot gasespassing through the heating shell to cause all parts of the battle to bethoroughly heated. As most of the turns of wire successively increase ordecrease in diameter, it is obvious that all of the turns will not be invertical alinement, as would be the case if the coil were wound upon asmooth cylindrical surface, but most of the successive turns of wire areoffset in a horizontal direction, so that the turns of wire aredistributed over the cross sectional area of the flame and hot gasesrising through the heating shell, as will be clear from Fig. 3. This, ofcourse, is due to the fact that the turns of wire form a plurality ofconical spirals.

The radially-extending vanelike portions 4 of the central support notonly serve as a core upon which the coil is wound, but also serve toproperly position the coil within the heating shell. For. this purpose,the vanes 1 extend in a radial direction, such a distance that thebaffle may be readily posi tioned within the heating shell, and when sopositioned, the extreme edge portions of the vanes will contact with theinner surface of the heating shell to hold the battle in its centralposition. The V-shaped openings 2 are preferably so positioned and ofsuch size as to leave flat and unpointed portions 14 along the edges ofthe vane-like parts 4, so as to facilitate the positioning and removalof the bat e with respect to the heating shell- It is obvious that whenthe heating shell is made of foraminous material, the existence of sharpcorners where the flat edges 14 are shown would be objectionable, as thebaffle would then be more diflioult to position and remove and thebaffle would not be as ef fectively held in its co-axial relation withrespect to the heating shell.

Although the preferred sequence of steps in constructing the battle andthe preferred shape and disposition of the openings have been described,it is obvious that a baflie having the same shape as that shown in thedrawing, or a different shape, may be formed in a different manner, and,therefore, I do not wish to limit myself to the specific manner offorming the baflie or to the specific shape and construction thereof.Many changes in the details of construction may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, as defined in theaccompanying claims.

What I claim is 1. A baflle for gas heaters comprising a centralskeleton supporting member and a length of wire wound upon said memberto form a plurality of adjacent substantially conical spirals.

2. A battle for gas heaters comprising a central supporting memberhaving radiallyprojecting vane-like portions, and a coil of wire woundover the outer edges of said vane-like portions.

3. A baffle for gas heaters comprising a central supporting memberhaving radially-projecting vane-like portions disposed substantially atright angles to each other, and a coil of wire wound over the outeredges of said vane-like portions.

4. A baflie. for gas heaters comprising a central supporting memberhaving radially-projecting vane-like portions, said vanelike portionsbeing provided along their edges with a series of substantially\l-shaped openings, and a coil of wire wound over the outer edges ofsaid vane-like portions.

5. A baffle for gas heaters comprising a central supporting memberhaving a plurality of radially-projecting vane-like portions having aplurality of notches along their edges, and a coil of wire wound overthe outer edges of said vane-like portions with the turns of wirepositioned in said notches.

6. A baflie for gas heaters comprising a central supporting member madeup of two strips of metal, each bent along its longitudinal axis, thestrips so formed being secured together at their central portions toform a central supporting member having a plurality of vane-likeportions, and a coil of wire wound over the outer edges of saidvane-like portions.

7. A bafiie for gas heaters comprising a central supporting member madeup of two strips of metal provided along their edge portions With aseries of V-shaped openings, said strips being bent along their1ongitudinal axes and secured together at their central portions to forma supporting member having four radially-projecting vane-like portionsWith said V-shaped openings in circular alinement, and a coil of WireWound over the outer edges of said vane-like portions.

8. A baflie for gas heaters comprising a central supporting member and alength of Wire Wound upon the same to form a substantially conicalspiral.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

TRUMAN G. PALMER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G.

